Saturday, September 19, 2009

Other Garden Color Plant Perennials And Biennials

By Thomas Fryd

Hardy Perennials

Unlike annuals, perennials are more or less permanent, flowering annually from the same plants, and do not require to be resown or replanted each season. Seedling perennials, as a general rule, are more vigorous than plants propagated by means of divisions, cutting, etc. They need a longer period of growth to come to maturity than do the annuals, and may be sown from early spring to early autumn, according to their various requirements.

A fairly rich and well prepared seed bed should be made in a sheltered and sunny position, and the seed sown thinly in drills, watering the drills before sowing if the soil is dry.

As a rule, no further watering is necessary, but should a dry spell set in when the plants are tiny like the dwarf banana, it is wise to water them as they need it. Keep free from weeds and pests, and when large enough to handle transplant them carefully to a bed. In October, or alternatively in early spring, according to the size of plants and weather and soil conditions, move them to their permanent quarters.

Unless a large number of plants dwarf banana tree is required, the nursery bed may be dispensed with altogether, that is, provided the seedlings are well thinned out in their early stages. Indeed, an early thinning should be done in any case so as to ensure sturdy seedlings. Most perennials may also be raised in flats in a cold frame or cold house, pricking them off into other flats as soon as large enough to handle and planting them out when ready in the open border.

Some such method is advisable where a prepared seed bed cannot be made out-of-doors or where the depredations of garden pests are feared. Probably most amateur growers will find the flat treatment the most satisfactory way of raising their perennials. Unless the seedlings can be transplanted outdoors by the end of September, at the latest, it is always advisable to winter them in their boxes in a cold frame, transplanting them outdoors the following spring.

Hardy Biennials

The cultural treatment of biennials is very similar to that of the hardy perennials, but they differ from the latter in the respect that they are of little or no use after flowering once. Consequently they need replacement every season. They include such popular bedding subjects as Wallflowers, Canterbury Bells, etc. It is best to sow them in late spring or early summer, in flats in a coldframe. Transplant the seedlings to their flowering quarters before the end of September. If this cannot he done winter them in boxes in a coldframe.

About the Author:

No comments: